Not so sure this is normal?

[rScotty]

So I got the call from Trevor at Kubota......SNIP

On a side not, I kinda thought it was funny but as he was first talking he made the coment that it IS normal for the L3200/3800 to "make some metal". I mean come on......make some metal? Thats not very soothing to hear.

Glad to hear they called. I'm the person who hoped that you would hear from them; to me it simply looked like a normal cleaning process had been missed. Frankly, things like that happen in manufacturing. Much as we would like to, it just isn't possible for mere humans to control every single process 100% of the time and also make a product affordable. I think it is a nice to hear publicly that Kubota is concerned about their inspections and process. And it's also my experience that anything involving corporations changing their processes does proceed slowly. So far , it all sounds good to me.

As to the comment of "making metal", I wouldn't read too much into it. From an engineering perspective, anytime one piece of metal runs against another it causes some wear in the form of microscopic particles. That's physics, and that process is sometimes called "making metal". The metal that is made is in very small - often microscopic - particles that are exactly what the filter is designed to strain out of the oil.

Something to think about is when parts are manufactured they are only a perfect fit with whatever they are running against for one very short instant in their life.
For the first part of their life the high and interfering points are being worn down as the parts rotate against each other....and that makes microscopic particles. After they wear for awhile - called "breaking in" - those surfaces become perfectly mated for the only time in their life. They don't get to be perfectly mated for long (though it may be thousands of hours) because the equally inevitable although much slower process of friction begins to wear them both down immediately. Both the breaking in and the frictional wearing of these surfaces "makes metal" particles. Not to worry; designing filters to deal with those tiny particles is well worked out. You can't stop the particles from forming; nobody can. But we can darn sure filter them out and everyone does.
enjoy! rScotty

 

[Bluegill2]

I just did the 50 hr service on my L3800 this morning. Here's what my filter looks like. Just very fine metal on the magnetic ring and not much of it. I would say this is 'more' normal than the one Jewing posted.

 

[Smiles007]

I just did the 50 hr service on my L3800 this morning. Here's what my filter looks like. Just very fine metal on the magnetic ring and not much of it. I would say this is 'more' normal than the one Jewing posted.

Agreed. I think that is what a normal hydro filter should look like after 50 hrs.....

 

[k0ua]

I just did the 50 hr service on my L3800 this morning. Here's what my filter looks like. Just very fine metal on the magnetic ring and not much of it. I would say this is 'more' normal than the one Jewing posted.

That was what my L3400HST looked like at 50 hours.

James K0UA

 

[General Lee]

I'll add mine for comparison.....L4400 filter change at 48 hours. If you look at the 9 o'clock to 11 o' clock position there is corkscrew type shaving. There was a quite long one that I picked off and inspected prior to the photo.

 

[CarterKraft]

As others have said and to hopefully ease your mind some ...
In my experience all gear boxes (auto or mannual), final drives and differentials will "make metal", and again at every oil change, more metal. Final drives and most diffs don't even have filters or pumps, but thats the point. Those systems dont require oil to be at the same level of "clean" because they dont have types of tight tolerances a power shuttle or a load sensing piston pump has.

I think its good on Kubota to take over, the fact that the debris was there really doesn't concern me, the lax attitude from your dealer on the issue does. They are hoping you wont use the tractor much and there wont be a problem until 5 years down the road when "it just failed"?

 

[CarterKraft]

I just did the 50 hr service on my L3800 this morning. Here's what my filter looks like. Just very fine metal on the magnetic ring and not much of it. I would say this is 'more' normal than the one Jewing posted.

that looks like good break in filter, no obvious chips from drilling etc.

 

[Chilly807]

Mine looked a lot like GeneralLee's, maybe a bit more debris. A few machine chips and some fine particulate from the gears wearing in.

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

Bluegill, your's is out-of-the-ordinary clean for the Kubota L series... You can either be really happy that they cleaned it well before assembly, or worry that the pieces are still hung up somewhere in the gears or bearing cages... I should know better than to say that, but I just can't help myself

Sean

 

[Bluegill2]

Bluegill, your's is out-of-the-ordinary clean for the Kubota L series... You can either be really happy that they cleaned it well before assembly, or worry that the pieces are still hung up somewhere in the gears or bearing cages... I should know better than to say that, but I just can't help myself

Sean

I've been mostly lucky my whole life, so I'm not too concerned.